It’s finally the season for long sleeves. A good thing for me because it’s the same time my nose starts running during rides. Enjoy the summer? Me too. I got in a lot of biking and sailing. I promise not to turn this blog into a boating blog, like some I know …

Since the present is remarkably sooner than the past or future, I’ll talk about it first. The Frederick Grand Fondue is this Sunday October 20th. If you come out to ride it you may see me, or perhaps only parts of me, strewn along 100 miles and 13,000 feet of ups and downs. I hope my disembodied lips are smiling when you find them. Recently, I reread Gypsy Bug’s wonderfully descriptive blog post on Chasing Mailboxes to see if there was any more info that would calm my worried heart about this giant ride. There wasn’t. I’m going in anyway. Want details about the Grand Fondue, which has many different ride lengths? See: http://bikedoctorfrederick.wordpress.com/2013/08/22/grand-fondue-part-deux/ or my previous post.

The past is best left for the end so let’s chat about the future:
Sunday, November 10th we’re riding the Union Bridge Pancake Ride. I’ve done this for a few years now and it’s a fun one. It’s got the full length of one of the greatest biking roads ever (Sam’s Creek Rd) and it’s got pancakes (always awesome) and some fantastic Carroll and Baltimore county roads for us to ride in prime Autumn colors. I’ll post with a final map and cue sheet, but there’s the date. Start time will be moved earlier to 7:30AM and we start in Mt. Washington for that one.

And now… the past: Six riders took on the Old Roads Ride at the end of September. That ride is quite difficult, but oh is it worth it. Every tire sliding, crumbly barned, cow pastured, dust clouded, gun shot booming, stream chasing, steep grade scrambling, huge horizon viewing, threatening corn rowed, dark and winding, open yarded, kids, moms dogs and tractoring dad waving MILES, WERE WONDERFUL TO VISIT BY BICYCLE. To quote Ken, “If you missed it, you missed out”. Not to worry. This ride is a keeper and will definitely be rolling out in 2014. Thank you PJ for this report on bike forums. Thank you Dave for this report on BikesnCoffee. Some pics of mine below and here on flickr.

Hey! Thanks for reading my summary of the Grand Fondue. Felkerino and I were looking at the draft of this year’s 100-mile route which I pulled from their Facebook page and we are already calculating our own modified route. Most of them did not do the full route last year, preferring to head back for the post-ride activities. I only know of a couple of people who actually rode the full route. It’s a pretty informal affair. The nice thing about the Grand Fondue is that there are various shortcuts as you go along. Felkerino and I want to finish by dark, have a good ride, and not be obliterated at the end so that’s how we’re planning our day. Look forward to seeing you!